Elective Courses

Masters of Public Policy (MPP)

Most of the students’ second-year program consists of elective courses of individual choice relevant to the study of public policy. The School provides students with information on course possibilities around the campus, and each student determines a set of courses in consultation with a faculty adviser.

Students can choose electives from the full array of courses offered by Berkeley’s academic departments and professional schools and colleges, as well as courses taught by GSPP faculty. With nearly 300 degree programs, Berkeley offers opportunities for advanced study in a vast range of fields.

The following list, far from exhaustive, indicates some of the courses of particular relevance for public policy students:

Department of City and Regional Planning: The Urban Planning Process; Planning and Governmental Decision-Making; Introduction to Housing Analysis; Community Development Theory and Practice; Policy Analysis and Program Evaluation for Social Planning.

School of Education: Education Policy Analysis; Education and the Law; Organizational Aspects of Planning and Regulation; Economics of Education; Education, Politics and Government.

School of Public Health: New Boundaries for Health Policy and Planning; Legislation and Organization for Health and Social Services; Organization Theory and Health Institutions.

School of Social Welfare: Social Policy and Social Welfare; Development of Social Service Programs; Processes of Community Planning and Organizing; The Management Cycle in Social Welfare Administration.

School of Business Administration: Business and Public Policy; Management in the Public and Not-for-Profit Sectors; Labor-Management Relations in the Public and Nonprofit Sectors; Collective Bargaining; The Interaction of Business and Government.

Public and Nonprofit Management: Various colleges and schools on campus offer courses in this area such as: Public Sector Accounting; Financial Management; Managers and Management; Techniques of Management Control; Organizational Understanding for Managers; Advanced Seminar in Public and Nonprofit Management; Applied Microeconomics; Technology, Tasks and Politics; Organizational Skills for Managers; Information Resource Management; Management of Professionals in Organizations. For more information, call the GSPP Admissions Office at (510) 642-1940.

Elective courses offered by GSPP also provide opportunities for focused study in specific policy fields. Most courses are taught by regular GSPP faculty and some by visiting faculty, often policy practitioners. See the section on graduate electives for details.